Educate your staff to save money
Posted 19 May 2008 at 8:41AM by Hannah Gilchrist in Doing business online
Switching off computers at the end of the day is one way to keep your energy costs down, but there are countless more that you and your staff probably don't know about.
Energy awareness has always been a hot topic, but that doesn't mean you should ignore it, in fact quite the opposite. As many large firms start wising up to the notion of carbon footprints and implementing small changes, they've noticed significantly lower costs.
Morrisons supermarket is one example of how educating staff can help them to reduce their carbon footprint. As part of their 'Switching On to Switching Off' programme, the supermarket has educated 110,000 of their employees in the art of saving energy. The results? The strategy has saved the company £3.4 million to date.
But big money isn't the only way to enforce energy efficiency. Taking time away from work to suggest changes to the way people work and implementing a rewards scheme can help to let employees know you're serious.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, energy
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Comments
2. At May 19, 2008 11:36 AM, Indian dude wrote:
nelson,
your comments are out of context. Outsourcing does not resolve environmental problems unless you could find a colony on mars.
Your expression of 'sweat shops' in India are uncalled for. BTW who do you think owns half the worlds steel industry or companies like Jaguar ?
Or dominate top 10 of the worlds richest people ?
Tough eh ?
Shows how far countries like India or China can go without the facilities available in the west.
Do your bit for the environment in your best possible manner instead of cribbing about progress made by others.
3. At May 19, 2008 1:05 PM, james lyon wrote:
EXCELLENT - Saving can be so easy - Training staff is very important
4. At May 19, 2008 1:11 PM, J G Dawson wrote:
The Jag's long since passed its sell-by date and didn't sell in America because who in their right mind would pay big bucks for a tarted-up Ford Mondeo and as for steel; I guess India's the right place for white elephants...can we please get back on topic
5. At May 19, 2008 4:09 PM, 'Razor' Ramone wrote:
"BTW who do you think owns half the worlds steel industry or companies like Jaguar?
Or dominate top 10 of the worlds richest people ? "Hmm, the Americans, I'd think.. Was that your point? Because I don't get it if so.
Likewise, I'm wondering if you think it's okay to outsource based on a simple Cost vs Quality contest. It's so cheap to outsource (call centres being a prime example) that the quality of the work you get from doing so is virtually irrelevant. Not to say the quality is necessarily low, but it stands to reason that services provided within the country they are intended for will be of a higher standard (as the people responsible for the service stand to benefit directly from said).
6. At May 21, 2008 2:56 PM, TheBear wrote:
"Hmm, the Americans, I'd think.. "
Actually it's a very rich Indian chap, whose name escapes me for the minute. Also owns Land Rover too now.
You make a very good point about outsourcing. Too many companies have outsourced based purely on costs. Outsourcing isn't always a bad thing, it's just bad to blindly say "yes" to it.
Getting back to the topic, many companies tried back in the 80's to get people to do the simple things like turn off lights. Back in the time of plenty it would have been regarded as the company "penny-pinching", but nowadays I'd say it is regarded more like common sense, however uncommon it appears to be...
Sometimes people just need a small push in the right direction.
7. At May 22, 2008 9:23 AM, Pam wrote:
Razor Ramone, I've done call centre work in my early days, and believe me - very few people turn up to work intending to do a bad job, even call centre agents. Not to mention, so many companies these days are basing their call centres on-shore.
8. At May 27, 2008 2:51 PM, 'Razor' Ramone wrote:
"Also owns Land Rover too now."
I think it's Ford that own Jaguar though, isn't it? And there's some Mexican guy who's really rich too, along with Big Bill obviously, who could easily be the wealthiest person on Earth if he didn't give so much of his money to charity.
And yep Pam, agreed, that's pretty much what I was saying. I don't think there's anything wrong with the quality of work from outsourcers, simply that if you are able to benefit personally from the work you do, you will probably do the work to a higher standard.
I'd say the major downside specifically to outsourced call centres is the language barrier, and the inherent racism that breeds; "I don't understand you, so I think you don't know what you're talking about."
Although struggling to understand someone is often frustrating enough in itself, even if you're not remotely racist.
9. At May 28, 2008 6:48 PM, Chris Sabin wrote:
Razor, Jag was sold to the Indian Car company who make the worlds cheapest car a while back for about £100 million or so.
10. At May 29, 2008 1:56 PM, 'Razor' Ramone wrote:
"Razor, Jag was sold to the Indian Car company..."
Ah, so that's why they don't look like Ford Mondeos any more? Heh.
11. At May 29, 2008 2:01 PM, h wrote:
India may have quite a few rich people but it also has a large number of much poorer people and i think this may be the point - as for teaching employees - general training for any job or even in school should include greener concepts...
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1. At May 19, 2008 11:20 AM, Trevor Nelson wrote: